Southern Tier Xpress goaltender Ryan Pascarella makes a save during Saturday’s NA3HL game against the Toledo Cherokee at Northwest Arena. P-J photo by Chad Ecklof

The ice inside what is now known as Northwest Arena in Jamestown has played host to its fair share of junior hockey teams over the years. Coming up through the ranks of the Jamestown Lakers youth program, Southwestern graduate Ryan Pascarella always dreamed of donning the jersey for another one of his hometown teams once his youth career ended, but he wasn’t sure if things would work out that way.

“To be honest I never thought I would be playing junior hockey in my hometown,” Pascarella said earlier this week. “Watching it when I was younger, it was basically like the NHL when I was a little kid. It was the best thing in the world being able to come down here and watch a junior game.”

Not only did Pascarella’s dream come true, but the 19-year-old goaltender is now entering his third season with the Southern Tier Xpress of the North American Tier III Hockey League.

It was around the time that Pascarella was 8 that he first got a taste of what life was like between the posts, subbing in as a goaltender for the Lakers. While for many that first experience facing shots can be a trying one that quickly vaccinates against any love of being a goalie, for Pascarella the position was always a good fit.

You can attribute that to his background on the baseball diamond as a catcher, as well as his desire to stay on the ice as much as possible.

“I just remember I liked the fact that I got to play the entire game,” Pascarella said of his first goaltending experience. “I loved that I didn’t come off the ice, got to wear a cool mask and catch the puck. I just enjoyed that aspect of it, of just being able to sit back and watch the plays develop, react and make saves. That’s just something I loved and I just felt that that was right for me.”

It was right for Pascarella and the teams that he would play for, including the Jamestown and Southwestern/Maple Grove high school programs.

While the former Trojan enjoyed his time on the baseball diamond, it was after the close of his junior season that his sights were firmly set on pursing hockey. Lucky for him, the Xpress had started up their U-16 AAA feeder team.

Splitting time between playing for the Jamestown Raiders and the Xpress in his senior season, Pascarella got his first taste of the speed that he has become so accustomed to over the past three years.

“That was some good exposure,” he said of his time with the Xpress 16U. “I saw a lot higher level of hockey in the U-16 AAA program, so that kind of got me ready to make the jump. Just everything is so much faster. From top to bottom the players are just phenomenally better. In high school hockey you have guys that you have to watch for who can do it by themselves but when you make that jump to the junior level you see plays happening more. More passes and cross-ice stuff. The game really changes, it’s a lot quicker, there’s a lot more passing … just a lot more opportunities. It was a big adjustment from high school hockey.”

In his first complete season with the Xpress last year, Pascarella finished with a .911 save percentage on his way to a record of 8-11-2. Aiding his development over the past two years has been Xpress goaltending coach Anthony Micucci, who has trained netminders in the Buffalo area for over 20 years.

Not surprisingly, of the professional goaltenders that Pascarella has chosen to model his game after, one of them is Buffalo Sabres legend and six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik Hasek.

“For me, I’m not a very technical goaltender,” Pascarella said. “I’m more athletic, quick and reactionary, so (Micucci) kind of has developed the idea of trying to make the way I play the game fit better. Just working on my pushing and my technique, the way I react to the save and the way I control the rebound. Trying to find ways in my game where I can just improve the little things that make the big differences later on.”

In addition to his similarities to Hasek, Pascarella also admires and seeks to emulate the reaction-based game of two-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings.

In his quest to become a better goalkeeper, Pascarella has followed suit with many of his fellow Xpress teammates in adding a wide variety of weight training and dry-ground exercise to help emphasize his skills between the pipes.

That training has most recently included swimming and yoga in the hopes of developing increased flexibility and overall strength, in addition to sight-tracking work with Micucci.

“It’s been great to have a goalie coach and just a second set of eyes because when you do stuff yourself you don’t always realize the mistakes you are making,” said Pascarella.

Like so many junior hockey players, Pascarella has aspirations of playing at the college level, but for right now he’s not all that interested in his own statistics and prospects. His focus remains on helping the Xpress achieve something they have failed to do the past two years — reaching the NA3HL playoffs.

“For me it’s all about the team. I could care less about what I personally do, but for the team I want to make playoffs this year. I want to be able to make a playoff run here. In my last two seasons we’ve missed playoffs and that’s one thing when I came back that I wanted to make this team make a playoff run,” he said.

In order to try and achieve that goal, Southern Tier coach Lou Santini has made sure that his team understands what needs to be done in order to help their goalkeeper succeed.

“Any coach is going to tell you, we want the goalies to see the first shot. That’s our job as a team, so we have to do a good job of clearing guys out in front of the net and making sure that the lanes are there for him to see the puck,” Santini said. “He’s the first guy at anything to do for the team, by the team, you name it that’s what he does. He’s willing to sacrifice everything for the team and he works hard and I hope it all comes around for him. I’d love to see him get a spot for college, and he’s put the time and effort in to it so I’m wishing him all the luck with that.”